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The pop culture icon -- no longer a singer ... she's merely a performance artist now -- kicked off her "Confessions on a Dance Floor" tour in Los Angeles this week. Not one to disappoint her fan base of S&M and adult-mag devotees, she slid from inside a giant disco ball, dressed in equestrian/bondage gear and sporting a riding crop. She later took time to ride what Rolling Stone magazine called a "mechanical saddle/stripper pole."

But what really is upsetting the Opus Dei factions out there is the part when Madonna -- wearing a crown of thorns -- jumped onto a giant mirrored crucifix to sing "Live to Tell."

"Knock off the Christ-bashing," Catholic League president Bill Donohue told the Washington Post in a statement. "It's just pathetic."

A spokesman for the Church of England, usually one to avoid such inquisitions, told Britain's BBC website: "Why would someone with so much talent seem to feel the need to promote herself by offending so many people?"

(So much talent? Are we still talking about Madonna?)

Why all the shock and surprise? Madonna isn't going to take the stage alone, perch herself on a stool and strum a guitar with eyes closed, Eric Clapton-style. (You need more than a disco backbeat and electronic drum machine for that.) This is MADONNA. With her unquenchable fetish for religious imagery, it's a wonder she didn't lobby to be added to the cast of The Da Vinci Code. (The love scene between her and Silas would be have been priceless.)

What else did you expect from her? The act is old and its tiring. It's a cliche. To me, it's not the content of her latest stunts that offends me. It's the predictability of them.

About this blog

Relive the '80s music, movies and culture with Tampa Bay Times correspondent Steve Spears. A teen during the greatest decade ever, Steve is obsessed with everything from Duran Duran to Journey, John Hughes to John Cusack, and parachute pants to big hair.